"Teacher training": learn Python on Udacity starts Monday 20th Feb

Any teachers who would like to learn some programming and underlying computing concepts: I'm going to go out on a limb and recommend Udacity's free, online course CS101. It assumes no programming experience and runs from Monday 20th Feb for seven weeks.

So, if you facy learning some Python by the Easter holidays - and you can squeeze in a few hours a week at a very busy time of the year - then this might be worth a look. You can sign up till Feb 27th.

-------------------------

Disclaimers etc etc

1. I know that There are lots of other resources to learn stuff like this (I'm in the middle of writing a blog bit about this from a teacher's point of view) but I like this model as: a) it's from a respectable educational source b) the structure and time limit and community is a motivator (for me anyway ) c) it seems like a nice mix of programming and concepts. d) No twilight sessions at some dodgy campus a hour's drive away .

2. I know that Udacity is mentioned elsewhere on the forums.

3. I have no personal interest in Udacity or this couse, and have no detailed knowledge of the syllabus. It might be rubbish, it might be the Charles Atlas course of the computing world. I don't know. Hence "going out on a limb" when recommending this. All I'd say is that you have nothing to lose!

4. It's not limited to teachers

5. Please don't post about "better" courses, "better" languages etc etc. This is a heads up about a specific course, that's all. Please save the flames for the upcoming blog

This is all related that Stanford scheme that has been talked about. It all looks very interesting. I can't work out if this is instead of Stanford or whether they will be running something as well. Another of the professors has started a different scheme under the name Coursera name but with the Stanford logo at the top.

I've already started with Codecademy which is another new initiative and which will be developing courses over the whole year. There was quite a bit of publicity a couple of montha ago when the mayor of New York, Bloomberg, signed up for it. These initial courses deal with Javascript but they intend to go on to Python.

This is all related that Stanford scheme that has been talked about. It all looks very interesting. I can't work out if this is instead of Stanford or whether they will be running something as well. Another of the professors has started a different scheme under the name Coursera name but with the Stanford logo at the top.

To cut a long story short, the AI course was Stanford, Udacity is a new, independent for-profit business. (Confusion arises as Seb Thrun is involved in both)

The other course is by Nick Parlante, who created the awesome codingbat.com. This course has been delayed until Mid March.

Is anyone aware of any truly beginner python online courses that will be starting after June 10? I'll be back in the land of high speed internet access for about 9 weeks and would love to get in on an online python programming course for beginners.

While the Udacity cs101 class states that it assumes no programming experience, towards the end some of the questions get pretty tough. I am not saying to not take it. If you have the time, definitely take it. I took it the first time it was offered and learned so much about Python in a short amount of time that its unbelievable. But if you are new to programming, be prepared to put in the time to really learn.